Hawks receive at-large berth in national basketball tournament

March 12, 2013

Despite falling in the finals of the Region V men's basketball tournament this past weekend, the Howard College Hawks received an at-large bid to compete in the upcoming National Junior College Athletic Association national championship tournament.

Howard (28-5) is seeded 13th in the 24-team field and will begin play at 2 p.m. Monday against 20th-seeded East Mississippi (20-7). All tournament games will be at Hutchinson, Kan.

The Hawks were the beneficiaries of a new NJCAA rule implemented this year. In addition to 16 regional champions, the 2013 national tournament features four âzoneâ qualifiers and four at-large teams for the first time in the eventâs history.

The down side to making the field as an at-large team is that the Hawks will have to win five games to earn the national title â the 16 regional champions each received a first-round bye. And if Howard downs East Mississippi, it would then face No. 3-seeded and host Hutchinson Community College, which should enjoy a huge home-court advantage.

New Mexico Junior College, which defeated the Hawks in Saturday's Region V final, is seeded eighth.

âIt would have been better is we had won the regional title. That way, we would have had a better seed,â HC Coach Mark Adams said. âBut I'm excited for these guys who will get the chance to experience a national tournament.â

Adams believes the Hawks' overall body of work helped them earn an at-large bid.

âWe had one of the toughest schedules in the country, plus our region is historically one of the toughest in the nation,â he said. âThis has been a year when nothing has gone easy for this basketball team. Hopefully, that will prepare us for a very difficult tournament.â

Howard has only faced three of the national tournament teams this season, so Adams said he will be scrambling to find information about his team's possible opponents.

âWe'll be busy getting information this week,â he said. âWe'll try to locate some video on them â¦ and just do the best we can.â